In a big relief to the Bank of Baroda, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted the restrictions on its mobile app Bob World, paving the way for the public sector lender to onboard customers digitally. The banking regulator, on October 10 last year, had asked the lender to suspend further onboarding to customers onto Bob World due to supervisory concerns.
“The RBI, vide its letter dated 8th May 2024, conveyed to the bank its decision to lift the above mentioned restrictions on Bob World with immediate effect, as such the bank is free to onboard customers through Bob World application in accordance with the applicable guidelines and extant laws/regulations,” said the bank in filing to the BSE.
“The Bank will now resume onboarding new customers in the Bob World application,” it added.RBI’s crackdown on bank came after reports that the bank employees used unverified mobile numbers of multiple customers to boost registrations on Bob World. Bank of Baroda had denied these reports terming them as incorrect.
“The Bank remains committed to ensure adherence and compliance of regulatory guidelines,” said Bank of Baroda.RBI’s reprieve has come after the bank took several corrective measures, including removal of its chief digital officer. The banking regulator, last week, lifted restrictions on Bajaj Finance on sanctioning and disbursal of loans through eCOM and Insta EMI Card.
The RBI, on April 24, barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from taking on new customers via its online and mobile banking channels, and from issuing new credit cards after it found serious deficiencies and non-compliances by the private lender in information technology (IT) risk and information security governance. The banking regulator has also taken actions Paytm Payments Bank, IIFL Finance and JM Financial Products over the past six months.